Triumph The Insult Dog, Tesco's New Head of CS?
My partner and I have received appalling treatment from some staff members of the Carrickfergus Castle store, County Antrim, NI. Tesco Customer Services department in Dundee has been ineffective in dealing with this. We have demanded a sincere, personal apology from all 3 culprits in this store. I have preserved the anonymity of the staff and I expect the same in return from Tesco if and when Sir Terry replies to me.
We have given Tesco every chance to sort this problem but their response has been completely abysmal. It is our opinion that Tesco has got so big they don’t really care. So now we have decided to spread the word about our experience. I apologise if this posting is rather long but you can see we have been led a merry dance! I have summarized the main points below:
1. 30 Dec (yes, that long ago) – a rude and surly CS assistant barked a question at me like I was a dog then stomped off like a stroppy teenager.
2. Same day – Acting Duty manager was patronizing and arrogant towards us. She leveled an unsubstantiated, very insulting accusation at us and upset my partner a great deal. We challenged her about this but didn’t receive an apology
3. 17 Jan – we received a totally inept reply from Customer Services HQ for NI, to whom we had complained. They referred the matter to the Store Manager (who was absent on 30 Dec)
4. 14-Feb – a telephone message from Carrickfergus Castle Store Manager, asking me to contact him.
5. Same day and next 3 days – I kept phoning the store, the manager had gone home early, he was off or else when I rang the phone wasn’t even answered. Next thing I heard – he was off for a week’s leave.
6. 20 Feb – I wrote to Sir Terry, asking for the matter to be resolved either by him or (in his absence) one of his immediate subordinates
7. 23 Feb – received an e-mail from a Customer Service Executive informing us he would deal with the matters
8. 26 Feb – Carrickfergus Castle Store Manager eventually phones us. It was not worth the wait. He quickly became quite aggressive, choosing to rant about one point in my complaint about which he took exception. Even after I conceded that particular point to him he carried on ranting. He even ranted at my partner when she tried to verify to him how upset she had been by the Acting Duty Manager’s comments. He glossed over our complaints and stated that the 2 culprits had denied everything. He was very rude and at no stage did he even attempt to deal with our complaint. I am convinced that the only reason he phoned was to rant at us.
9. Same day – I sent an e-mail to the same CS Executive as before, complaining about the telephone manner and behaviour of the Store Manager. I asked him to handle matters personally as I did not want any further contact with anyone from the relevant store, unless they were prepared to apologise in person.
10. 28 Feb – a bland reply received from CS Executive. He had spoken to Store Manager and stated we were not getting an apology. By now I suspected that this person was not a senior manager, he didn’t even have his own personal e-mail address!
11. Same day – I replied to CS Executive stating that he had not dealt with my complaint about the Store manager. I assured him that we would be taking matters further.
Tesco have tried to justify the long delay overall (now 59 days) by stating that the Store manager was absent for some time. It took from 17 Jan to 14 Feb before the Store Manager contacted me. That is totally unacceptable. If he was absent that length of time, Tesco should have organized someone more senior to investigate our complaint i.e. area manager
I will shortly be sending a further e-mail to Sir Terry Leahy and asking for a personal response, preferably by telephone. I won’t hold my breath. I will also be spreading the word about our experiences both nationally on another popular consumer forum (which I am told has over a million hits a day) and locally by e-mail and word of mouth. I have lived in Carrickfergus for 43 years and I know a lot of people. Bad news travels fast, especially with my foot on the accelerator!!
People reading this site may wonder why I am pursuing this but ask yourself if the person you loved was insulted and upset very much, what would you do? Also if we all let Tesco get away with appalling Customer Service, they will never change
NiteRider
Carrickfergus, County Antrim
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21 comments:
With this huge long list you've created of staff aparently being rude to you. It seems that everyone you meet is rude to you.
Do you not think that perhaps the problem actually lies with yourself?
NiteRider
Haven't you got anything better to do with your life?
So Sir Terry Leahy has been demoted now from running one of the UK's largest companys to personally phone a customer with blatent issues?
Even you admit thats a stupid idea, perhaps theres hope!
I doubt it though.
"Bad news travels fast, especially with my foot on the accelerator!!"
Not quiet.
I switched off and have put you down as some sort of Victor Meldrew.
I can from the posts above imagine most others do as well. So perhaps not having the effect you assume!
Hint..................Self Awareness!
You have written a long complaint about Tesco ... but you have not once stated what the actual problem was. How are we meant to take you seriously if we do not know what you were complaining about in the first place?
For all we know you were complaining about something completely daft to Tesco and that is why you have not received a satisfactory response.
The actual problem probably hasn't been mentioned for a reason perhaps? If it was something trivial then they probably realised that they would get torn apart.
"OMG! The overhead sign for aisle 20 is an inch lower than the one for 21! Where's the manager!"
NiteRider said
Hi sexy & intelligent, Al.
The original query at Customer Services isn't relevant. What I have complained to Tesco about was the unacceptable behaviour of first of all the CS assistant then the Acting duty manager. Also the telephone manner of the Store Manager (when he phoned 4 weeks later) was disgraceful. Neither of these are trivial.
Well there must have been some reason why you are not taken seriously by anyone! What was this complaint? or are you too embarassed to tell us!!??!!
its irrelevant, cocky, arrogant staff should learn to treat customers with a bit of respect.
Only if customers treat us the way they want to be treated.
"its irrelevant, cocky, arrogant staff should learn to treat customers with a bit of respect. "
It seems very clear here that the staff in question have not been treated with respect otherwise none of this would have happend. It would be very arrogant for respect to be a one way thing so I wonder if that was the best choice of words!
NiteRider said
Well, here I am with a few more details since they have been requested. Unfortunately I cannot access this site from work as our server blocks out blog, MSE site is OK for some reason. Maybe our boss goes there!
Our attitude and behaviour towards the staff was calm, respectful and polite, as it always is with any retail employees. Most of the staff in our local Tesco are normally very polite and helpful.
We complained to the Acting Duty Manager about the way the CS assistant had treated us. The ADM said "Do not treat our staff as animals, we are people". Now we did not treat anyone like an "animal". We challenged the Acting Duty Manager and explained that we always treated everyone in Tesco (or any other shop for that matter) with respect. She seemed to back down perhaps realising she had gone too far but didn't apologise.
I have heard from a source in the store that in their words, "it was mad that Saturday, just after Christmas and everyone had brought back refunds but had no receipts". I think we caught the aftermath of this through no fault of our own. Believe me if I thought we were at fault, I would not have pursued the matter to this extent.
"Do not treat our staff as animals, we are people"
That would not have came from being calm and polite!
I see, you tried returning a product with no receipt then got upset when it was refused?
For Anonymous, Thur @ 7.45, I refer to my post same day at 4:31.
It is extremely likely the "animals" comment came as a result of events earlier in the day, long before we were in the shop.
No TM, ours was a routine Misprice query, we were not returning an item without the receipt. This happened a lot earlier in the day.
We did treat the staff calmly and politely, we were unlucky to catch the aftermath of these earlier events. Still that is no excuse for their behaviour towards
Sorry, I didn't say, that last post was me, NiteRider. The only way I can seem to post comments is to choose an anonymous identity then type "NiteRider said". If anyone knows a way of sorting this, please tell me.
Manjushri,
I think you will be wrong! your also wrong in assuming it's Tesco's staff that made the above comments. I think you'll find only 1 works for Tescos.
I don't work for Tesco's or any other supermarket but have commented above.
Your extreme view of Tesco's staff based on the comments above by non-tescos staff (don't know how you figured that). A massive generalisation, an assumption, not factual, again wrong!
"I will also be spreading the word about our experiences both nationally on another popular consumer forum"
Was the advice you got from that forum try being nice to people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh Dear!Working in retail is character building - I only wish that sometimes, others would appreciate - that when being given 'challenging refund situations' - that is, customer thinks they know their statutory rights when they dont even know the difference between Damaged and Faulty - then be well advised before shouting down a retail employee. Without a reciept, or proof of purchase, especially on a branded product (such as Levi's etc) - you will not get a refund! Unless Faulty and this means what is says on the can - faulty - i.e. manufacturing defect. Most retailers are fantastic at going - over and above - especially with nice customers - Oh but dont take it for granted - without proof of purchase you may still need to go directly to the manufacturer. On the grand scheme of things - there are Far Far more important things to worry about than a bit of 'off' service from a retailer!
Oh, and for the record - I dont work for Tesco! Im self employed.
Hope things can move on........how about the weather....Fabulous day today wasn't it! great weather and Spring is nearly Sprung.
Good wishes to all.....
Methinks that if you weren't so vague about your initial problem then you would have been taken more seriously.
You still never stated what exactly was said to you by the assistant in question.
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